REVIEW | e.l.f. Essentials Nail Cube in Brights

I'm all about bright nails for Spring and Summer (all year round, actually). So I was really excited when I saw e.l.f. had a nail set full of bright, fun colors! I actually got this last summer and have really used a lot of the colors. Read on to find out how I feel about these nail polishes!

The e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube in Brights features 14 nail polishes in an array of finishes--brights, neutrals, pastels, and glitters--to create the perfect manicure. There are 6 brights, 4 nudes/pastels, and 4 glitters ( 3 chunky, 1 finer glitter). They are free of Toluene, Formaldehyde, and Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) and are infused with Vitamin # for stronger, healthier nails. 

Quick overview of all the polishes included in this set (sorry for the darkness--I took these on a cloudy day)

All the swatches above and below are done with one coat. The swatches on e.l.f's website isn't too accurate (not that mine are much better) but I hope mine can give you a better look at the colors. I took these pictures during a super cloudy day and the images came out too dark so I had to brighten them up to better reflect the colors--these look a bit brighter than they do in real life (especially the orange, red, and pinks on the right). 

Colors

Brights

• Skinny Jeans is a dark blue cream finish polish. It applies very opaquely in one coat. I do not have major chipping issues with this polish.
• Sunflower is a bright yellow pearl finish polish. It is opaque in one coat. I don't have major chipping issues here either.
• Mango Madness is a vermillion shade with a cream finish. This one is quite thick and a bit harder to apply. I added a bit of nail polish thinner (not nail polish remover!) to thin it out (obviously) and it applies a lot better now. Again, this one wears nicely throughout the week.
• Flirty Fuchsia is an amaranth shade with a cream finish, though it dries into a semi-matte. It is opaque in one coat. This shade is brighter on the nails than in the bottle.
• Electric Fuchsia is a dark fuchsia shade with a cream finish. Similar to Flirty Fuchsia it dries down to a semi-matte finish. A bit dark for Spring but it makes me feel girlier and mature (though I don't know if my mom would wear this kind of shade LOL). This shade is darker in the bottle than on the nails. 
• Smokin Hot is a bright, lust red shade with a cream finish. It is opaque in one coat. Again, this shade is darker in the bottle than on the nails (but you can layer it to make it darker). 

From L to R: Flirty Fuchsia, Electric Fuchsia, Mango Madness, and Smokin Hot

Pastels/Nude

• Lavender Mist is a dark periwinkle color (for artists, lavender mist is an actual color but it doesn't look like that to me, an untrained artist). The pearly finish is quite lovely on the nails and not obvious unless you use more than one coat. This is one of my favorites from this collection. It brightens my skin tone and looks great against my yellow undertone (doesn't emphasize it). This was on my fingernails and toes constantly last summer and it will definitely be making a comeback this Spring!
• Mint Cream is a pale mint green with a cream finish. It leans more on the green than blue side. As with Lavender Mist, this is another spot-on name that I thought was more of an artistic rendition. It is a shade or two darker than Wet N Wild's I Need a Refreshmint. One coat is passable but for the most opacity, I recommend two coats. This one is another one of my favorite shades. Mint is one of my favorite colors of all time (I have 4 or more bottles of varying shades) and I love wearing it, especially on my fingers.
• Nude is a tango pink with a cream finish. I normally do not gravitate to wearing nude colors on my nails as it gives me a sickly look sometimes but this pink warms my skin nicely. I wouldn't call it a nude exactly (unless you have a true pink skin tone) but it is understated enough for most conservative jobs. 
• Metallic Elegance is a pale pink (almost white). It has a pearly finish. 

From L to R: Skinny Jeans, Lavender Mist, and Mint Cream

From L to R: Sunflower, Nude, and Metallic Elegance (sorry for the random hair stuck in Nude--didn't want to ruin the polish by removing it >-<)

Glitters

• Dream Maker is a silver glitter with chunky hexagon pieces and smaller circular ones. 
• Gold Star is a gold glitter polish with large hexagon pieces and smaller circles.
• Chic Confetti is a multi-shade glitter. I see large hexagon shades in gold and purple, smaller pieces in teal, red, and silver.
• Fairy Cream is a duochrome glitter polish. The glitter pieces are finer than the ones in Gold Star and Dream Maker. If they are in the shade and out of the light, they look more silver but when the sunlight shines on my fingernails, it shows up more green and red. This glitter top coat twinkles like fairy lights.

From L to R: Gold Star, Chic Confetti, Dream Maker, and Fairy Cream

Application

These nail polishes glide on very well. They aren't too liquidy nor are they too thick--just right. It's super easy to apply these without streaking. Only one of them gives me a bit of trouble (Metallic Elegance). Some of brush hairs were sticking out on some of the polishes when I first twisted off the cap; I fixed that by snipping off the stray hairs with some scissors. Other than than, the brushes do quite a good job of picking just enough polish for each finger. 

Likes

Price is not a good indicator of quality because these shades perform quite well on my nails. They are smooth in application and are opaque in one coat, for the most part. I'm a bit persnickety about my nails and alway do two coats but they are passable with one if I'm in a rush. As I mentioned before, Lavender Mist and Mint Cream are my favorites from this collection. The cream and pearl polishes don't have a strong, nail polish scent at all.

They dry quite quickly; as I finish painting one coat one both hands, the first hand I painted is dry enough for the second coat so it cuts down on time. 

These don't chip on me as much but I do apply a base coat (Sally Hansen's double Duty Strengthening Base and Top Coat) and a quick dry top coat to seal in my work (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat). 

The color doesn't fade throughout the wear time nor does it stain my nails. 

Each bottle is .20 fl oz (the size of a travel size/deluxe size nail polish) so the pictures on the website is slightly misleading. I actually prefer the smaller size and I never go through a whole bottle of nail polish anyway and I can store a lot of them within a limited space. They're perfect for travelling due to their small size and no-spill. A caveat to that is you must twist the cap tightly. Do not worry about the cap not lining up with the bottle as you can remove the top and put it back in a way that it matches the edges on the bottle. That said, the design of the bottle is quite unique and makes storage easier as they line up edge to edge quite well compared to circular bottles. The individual ones in the Essentials line contain 0.34 oz/ 10mL each.

Dislikes

The glitter polishes are quite disappointing. They aren't very dense at all. Even with three coats, I can't cover my entire nail in glitter. Unlike the cream or pearl finish polishes, these glitter ones have a very strong, metallic scent. They also have the tendency to make my nails look matte. Sometimes, that nice but I prefer a glossy finish to all my nails so it's kind of annoying to have to put a topcoat on them (but you should anyway for longevity!)  

Metallic Elegance was the another shade I was disappointed in. It applies quite sheerly so you need at least three coats for decent opacity. I'm not really a fan of these shades anyway but it might be pretty good for French manicures.

Bottom Line

I'd recommend this set! Each nail polish retails for $2 USD on e.l.f.'s website so you're getting each bottle in this set for a $1 USD--50% off. Some of these shades you can get individually here for the creams and pearls and here for the glitter polishes (Skinny Jeans, Mango Madness, Flirty Fuchsia, Smokin Hot, Nude, Mint Cream, Chic Confetti, Gold Star, and Dream Maker) but others can only be found in this set (Fairy Cream, Metallic Elegance, Lavender Mist, Electric Fuchsia, and Sunflower). There are some repeats from other collections (which I'll mention in later posts) but overall, this is a solid collection for Spring and Summer. It would be a great present for the budding nail polish enthusiast as there's a variety of shades and finishes in a smaller form :) You can find this set at e.l.f. and in select Target stores. If you just want Lavender Mist, Sunflower, Mint Cream, and Fairy Cream (they aren't labelled but I think it is this shade), you can get it in this nifty little set called Beachy here for $5 USD. There's another 4-piece set that includes Nude,  Mint Cream, Bubblegum Pink, and Teal Blue (last two aren't part of the Brights Cube but are in the Essentials line) for $5 USD here. 

A nail look created using Skinny Jeans, Sunflower, Smokin Hot, and Fairy Cream (though it's not very clear from the picture). The design is from cutepolish's Doodle Floral Nails tutorial.

MWAH Musings ♥

• Had some Korean fusion yesterday and have decided that I don't like fusion foods...
• Had Oreo tempura ice cream yesterday...was the bomb :D
• Had banana nut ice cream with double chocolate chip cookies today...#WeekendOfIcecream #SwearImG2GToTheGym :3

This concludes another post from me! I'm going to catch up on some posts and have a surprise soon for all the patient readers out there ;)

XOXO,

MWAH ♥

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Disclosure Statement: All products mentioned were purchased with my own money. I am not sponsored by any of the companies mentioned above and was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own. Links are not affiliate links and are provided for the readers' convenience. I cannot guarantee that the product(s) will work for you. I do not approve or endorse the products or information available on these sites. Proceed at your own risk.